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as an espresso-snob, life is too short for a bad espresso shot. ‘godshots’ only come a few times in a year if you’re lucky… 2008 World Champion Barista Stephen Morrissey once said on coffeed.com that he has probably only had 8 amazing shots of espresso. Of course, living in Halifax since the early 1990’s, it can certainly be difficult to find amazing shots, or even drinkable ONES, in this city, but fortunately the coffee scene has changed for the better !

Now YHZ now has at least 4 cafes worthy for other espressosnobs like me (in alphabetical order only): Java Blend, Smiling Goat, Steve-O-Reno’s & Two If By Sea (Dartmouth preferred over Halifax). Other places in the city, take your chance, but you’re likely to get a thin, watery shot with blonde crema, if that’s your style. Fortunately, I travel a fair bit out of YHZ, which is great to make up for the limited choices of cafes in this city. Given the limited selection, increasingly I’m content to try to brew coffee at home by various methods BUT leave espresso to the baristas.

This blog site attempts to capture my daily quest to find a better than average shot of espresso… with tangential references to cycling, indie music, food and wine, skiing… Perhaps lately, it has swayed way too far away from espresso… now featuring manually brewed coffees, egg yolks, beef, pig, large tasting menus, & cocktails.

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8 thoughts on “About”

Hi there. I’ve been reading your blog for a while, and have found it really helped me to appreciate GOOD espresso (I can no longer be found at Starbucks!). Thank you! I am now moving to Toronto however, and would like to know if you can recommend a few cafes in the GTA. Thanks in advance.

Your blog was the reason for my initial visit to Communal Mule which is one of my favourite cafes. Had some amazing shots of CC Rustico there. Hoping to repay you by mentioning new Toronto roaster Social Coffee which I visited last Friday. Had the treat to try some espresso on their Slayer machine as I posted today. If you’re in town you should try to make a visit. Would love to hear your comments.

Fantastic blog! It seems you share alot of the same interests we do on our coffee show. You’ve also featured some places we didn’t get a chance to visit on our cross country coffee tour last September/October. Are you on Twitter?

The years have slipped by since that Halifax interview and the move from Toronto…from healthcare in the orthodox sense to healthcare in the more real sense… good espresso and doing what you love! That being said, I invite you to come to PAVIA Gallery, Espresso Bar and Cafe. Our espresso is roasted by a small micro-roasters in Florence. We have 3 to choose from, one of which, in traditional Italian style contains both arabica and Robusta beans (which gives a superior crema). The company MokaFlor has been producing the best espresso beans since the 1940’s. Check out the website http://www.paviagallery.com and the facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pavia-Gallery-Espresso-Bar-Caf%C3%A9/140035076066542.
I look forward to seeing you there (its also on the bike route around the Purcells Cove/Sambro loop),